School bullies 'demand sex favours'

Saturday 27 January 2007 00:03 BST

School bullies are forcing other pupils to provide "sexual favours" in exchange for "protection" as gang culture infiltrates the playground, campaigners have warned.

The charity Beatbullying said there was growing evidence of sexual bullying between boys and girls at secondary school. The charity's chief executive Emma-Jane Cross called for an urgent Government investigation into the scale of "sexual exploitation of young people, by young people".

The warning came as MPs published a report highlighting serious failings in the way schools tackle bullying.

Ms Cross said: "We are getting significant anecdotal evidence about peer-to-peer sexualised bullying - incidents of sexual harassment, sexual assault between peers and also initiation into gangs that includes sexual assault and what they call sexual favours."

She said the charity's network of 50 staff working with hundreds of children and teenagers across the country were reporting more complaints from girls of sexual harassment.

Cases included "inappropriate behaviour in the corridor or on the way home" such as "sexualised touching" and "inappropriate language". "We have anecdotal evidence from young girls who are being pressurised into sexual acts to get 'protection', if it is a particularly rough school," she said.

The problem was not just boys bullying girls, but sometimes "gangs of girls acting in an inappropriate way towards boys". The rise of social networking websites has led to a growth in "peer-to-peer grooming" over the internet, where for example 13-year-olds are "groomed" by 15-year-olds, she said.

Ms Cross called for more Government research into the scale of the issue and funding to support prevention work in schools. But the National Union of Teachers said it had no evidence that this sort of behaviour was happening in schools.

NUT general secretary Steve Sinnott said: "If they (Beatbullying) know this is happening, they should tell the schools concerned. It has to be stamped out. But it is very difficult for teachers to prevent appalling behaviour beyond the school gates."

Beatbullying's warning came as the Commons Education Select Committee said children should not be expelled from school for fighting back against bullies.